RWBY Legends - Team ANGL
by Blood Angels Captain
Summary: Ten years before the rise of Team RWBY, follow the journey of another team of Hunters-in-training and their fellow students as they attend Beacon Academy to hone their skills, and combat the forces that threaten their world. OC fanfic. (Forgive the summary. First time doing this on this site.)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – A New Chapter in Life**

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set on the horizon, as Remnant's broken moon began to light the twilight sky. The activity in Vale's magnificent capital was beginning to slow, though it wouldn't be long until the night owls and less-than-reputable citizens came out to flood the city's numerous clubs. As it were, homes were lighting up as their  
occupants returned home from work, while others darkened, replaced by the lights of cars as they ferried towards the downtown.

Far from the action, a sixteen-year-old girl sat in front of a mirror, brushing her hair. The girl, one Juliette Asimi, took delicate care of the strawberry-blonde locks, before giving equal attention to the matching fox ears atop her head, being careful not to disturb the sensitive skin at their bases. After a while, she looked in the mirror and smiled, pleased with her work. Normally, Juliette wouldn't be one to care much about her appearance this late in the day, but her boyfriend of two years had sent a message to her scroll, asking her to come over. She left her house, telling her parents where she was going before stepping out.

She didn't have to travel far, as her destination was only three blocks away. When she reached the sizable apartment building the Fox Faunus made her way to the door, beelined for the elevator, and pressed the button for the fourth and final floor. Needless to say she was well versed in the route to her boyfriend's home.

Upon reaching the top floor, Juliette stepped out of the elevator and made her way to apartment 423. When she reached the door to the apartment, she knocked in the manner she had grown accustomed to: two quick knocks, a brief pause, and two more quick knocks. A few seconds later, a middle aged woman answered the door, a smile on her face.

"Good evening Juliette," she greeted as she stepped forward to hug the teenager.

Juliette responded, "Hello to you too, Mrs. Caxton," while opening her arms and tightly returning the other woman's hug.

"Juli," the other woman started in a falsely reprimanding tone. "I've told you several times to call me Sabra." She continued as she pulled away, still smiling.

"Sabra, whose there?" A male voice called from the living area of the large apartment.

"It's Juliette, dear," Sabra responded as she ushered Juliette in. The two women walked into the living area as Sabra's husband, William Caxton stood up from the couch to welcome their guest.

"Ah, hello Juli." He said as he greeted Juliette like his wife had; with a warm hug. After the two of them separated, William continued, "So I assume you're here for George?"

"Nope." Juliette denied, "I just came here to enjoy the company of my two favorite people," she joked, causing William to chuckle and Sabra to laugh.

"Well, you picked a perfect time to show up," Sabra said as she walked to the counter that separated the kitchen section of the apartment from the living area. She grabbed an opened envelope on the counter and handed it to Juliette. "The letter came today."

The letter was unassuming and plain-looking, save for the symbol on the front. A symbol that a wide-eyed Juliette immediately recognized. A circle with two axes crossing each other in the center, and one laurel on the bottom of each of the axes' hilts, made up the unmistakable symbol of Beacon Academy.

 _'Beacon Academy!'_ Juliette mentally screamed. Looking up from the envelope, she scanned the Caxtons' faces. "What did it say?" She questioned excitedly.

William shrugged, "We don't know. George read it, and then went to his room. That's probably when he called you," he told Juliette. Not needing to be told twice, Juliette excused herself and went for her boyfriend's room.

Upon opening the door, she stepped into his room and closed the door behind her. It was the same as usual: neat, tidy, and well-maintained, quite the far cry from the average teenage boy's room. On the far wall on the right side of his bed was his armor, hanging in its display case. And next to it, his spear, Dragon's Bane.

George was a Huntsman in training, as evidenced by said weapon and armor. He had actually graduated from the primary combat school Signal Academy earlier that year, ranking the top of his class in combat and second in academics. Ever since, he'd been waiting to receive the letter that had previously occupied the envelope back in the kitchen area.

* * *

Looking around his room and not seeing him anywhere, Juliette turned her gaze to the sliding glass door that lead out to the small patio connected to his room. She could see the top of his dark brown hair above the back of the lone chair that was out there. Juliette stepped forward and slid the door open.

"George?" She said in a soft voice. At the sound of her voice, George sprang from his seat and looked his girlfriend in the eyes. As he was just over six feet tall, and Juliette was a couple of inches under, he had to look down slightly to meet Juliette in the eyes. The first thing Juliette noticed: George's eyes were rimmed with red, clearly meaning he had been crying. Juliette was instantly worried; George had always been one of the strongest people she knew. Before she could voice her concerns, however, George took one step forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Juliette.

George bent his head down, and softly murmured, "Juli," into her fox ear.

"George?" She asked, her concern growing, "What's wrong?"

"I made it." He told her. A few seconds later, George let go of her and reached for his chair, grabbing a letter that had fallen from his lap when he got up. He handed it to Juliette, who, with widening amber eyes, went straight to work with reading the parchment.

 _Mister George St. John,_

 _I have the distinct privilege of congratulating you on graduating top of your class at Signal Academy._

 _In honor of your academic achievement, leadership, and battle skills, you are cordially invited to Beacon Academy this Autumn._

 _Beacon Academy is widely regarded as the leading educational facility for young Huntsmen and Huntresses across the grand region of Vale._

 _Welcome to next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses, who, once armed with the greatest skill and in-depth knowledge, will protect our world._

 _I do hope to see you among the other remarkable candidates at this year's orientation._

 _-Headmaster Ozpin_

Juliette's heartbeat picked up to what felt like dangerously-high speeds as she finished the letter. Looking up from it, her eyes met his as a smile came to both of their faces. Juliette jumped back into George's arms as he opened them, squealing with excited laughter that matched George's own as he spun her around the room. She felt miniscule static shocks where he touched her-a common issue when George was overly excited or emotional-but ignored them, far too busy basking in the moment of pride.

"You made it!" Juliette shouted as her boyfriend sat back down in his chair, holding her in his lap. She realized then that his tears had not been ones of sadness, but of elated joy. "George, is this why you were crying?" She asked, though she already figured the answer. "I never doubted that you would be accepted, were you not expecting it?"

George sighed happily and shook his head, "It's not so much that I wasn't expecting to be accepted, not meaning to sound like I'm bragging. It's just… Well… You know how much this means to me. This is another major step forward in my goals."

Juliette laid her head on his chest and smiled. "I know that your parents would be beyond proud of you right now George."

George responded by rubbing one of her fox ears, just the way she liked. While she enjoyed this however, something crossed her mind.

Hoping that George wouldn't hear the worry in her voice, Juliette asked "So, how long do we have until you leave?" George sighed and tilted Juliette's head in a way that they made eye contact.

"Juli," he said softly, "I won't be going far. Beacon is right here next to the capital."

"Yes, but non-students and staff aren't allowed to go to the grounds unless invited. And on top of that, it's isolated from the city." She said to him, her ears drooping slightly. "And on top of that, there might be other… girls there, girls that will-", She didn't finish the sentence as George interrupted her.

"Juliette, you know better than that. You're training to become a doctor, so look inside that beautiful brain of yours and know that I would never be unfaithful to you. We've been together for two full years, the happiest years of my life. Why would I ever throw that away?"

"I'm..." She started, then hesitated. "I'm not sure."

George smiled slightly. "I swear on my honor, as often as I can, I will get ahold of you and talk until you can't stand my voice anymore. And whenever I am able to leave the grounds, I will let you know when and where I will be.

"This is another chapter in my life Juli. One that I am eagerly looking forward to. And even though I'll be away from home, don't worry. You will still have a significant role in that chapter, just like you will in every chapter after." He emphasized his promise with a soft kiss to his love's forehead.

Juliette smiled happily as she felt his lips touch her. Her worries eased, she was content to simply lay under the twinkling stars with George. By now, the sun had completely set, and every jagged shard of the broken moon was visible.

"We are going to have to tell your aunt and uncle about this, of course." She said.

"I know." He grinned, "I just wanted you to be the first to hear the news. And then after them, I'll have to contact professor Branwen..." He trailed off, his mind filled with the thoughts of just how much the next few weeks would change his life

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **So, here it is. The first chapter.**

 **I will admit, I'm a little nervous about this, but excited too.**

 **Any comments, critiques, questions, and constructive criticisms are appreciated. Please don't flame me though, as this is my first story submission here.**

 **Now, there are pictures of the characters available. Just go to deviantART and search for "BloodAngelsCaptain1".**

 **Now to make something clear about George's name and the CNR: It can be looked at in I guess two ways. One, brown because it means tiller of the earth. And the other, the one I associate it with, is red. Why? Well, St. George the Dragonslayer, who he is based off of, had a red cross as a symbol. That's just my opinion there.**

 **Please let me know what you think either here or there.**

 **VERY special thanks to the following:**

 **The Reader of Fanfiction**

 **Diyaru4500 on deviantART**

 **RHY7HMICW4RRIOR on deviantART**

 **TeamGRAE on deviantART**

 **lightning-in-my-hand on deviantART**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – The First Steps**

* * *

The past couple of weeks since George received his acceptance letter seemed to pass by a lot quicker than expected.

George now stood at the airship docks with Juliette and his aunt and uncle. He was clad in his armor, and his spear was collapsed and holstered on his back. The few bags he was taking with him had already been delivered and were being loaded onto the transport. The same one that would take him to Beacon. Other students who were accepted into Beacon from Vale were at the docks, saying goodbye to their families and friends, or boarding the ship.

They were standing at the gate of dock where the transport was stationed.  
"Well, here I go," George said as he turned around to see the rest of his party. All three of them looked very happy and proud of him, but at the same time, his aunt and Juliette also looked sad. In fact, Sabra was the first to step forward and wrap him in a hug.

"Good luck George," she said to him as they hugged. When she pulled away, William stepped forward and extended his hand. George took his uncle's hand in a handshake, while their free arms tapped each other's shoulders, as you would do with a close friend.

And then after that, Juliette stepped forward. The two of them stared into each other's eyes for what felt like a few minutes. Without a word, the two of them met and embraced each other tightly,while the Caxtons watched.

"I'll miss you," she told him.

"Hey, like I said; I swear I will stay in touch." The two of them pulled back and made eye contact again. "In fact, I'll be sure to message you when the ship docks at the school, and I'll vid call you before I go to sleep tonight." Juliette smiled at this.

"I will hold you to that." She told her as her left fox ear twitched slightly. George smiled at this gesture and the two began to lean in for a kiss but they both sensed the eyes of the Caxtons on them. George cleared his throat into his fist. Thankfully, William caught the message.

"C'mon Sabra. Let's give the kids some privacy and take a look at this fine machine."

"But they just look so cute together." Mrs. Caxton replied as her husband lead her away.

When they were finally alone they engaged in a kiss.

Once they parted, George turned and walked towards the ship. After walking about ten feet away, he turned back around and saw the three of them still standing there. He waved to them and called to them.

"I love you all!"

They responded by waving back, Juliette blowing him a kiss. George pretended to catch it as he turned back around and light jogged to the transport.

Ascending to boarding ramp, George soon found himself in the cabin of the ship. It was rather spacious, with a few seats located along the edges of the room, a holo-television on one side tuned into the news with Stacy Sandalwood, and windows that had an amazing view of the world below.

As George looked around, he noticed several of his fellow Signal graduates conversing with each other. Thankfully none of them had noticed him yet. As such, he began to walk towards one of the seats by the window, doing his best to avoid attracting attention. Then again, he knew his armor and having his weapon slung on his back wouldn't help with that. He was just about to sit down at the window, when someone else among the other passengers caught his eye.

There stood a young man. He was huskierthan most of the other passengers, and was wearing clothes that practically shouted "I come from a rich family". They consisted of a blue vest, a white dress shirt, dark grey dress pants, and dark grey boots. Around his waist was a utility belt, lined with small containers. The kind that one keeps Dust crystals in. Judging by the blue glow emanating from them, they were water Dust crystals. Sheathed on his left hip was a falcata sword with a gold hilt. He had slightly long black hair that was combed back, with a single blue streak running through it like a river. He wore a serious expression on his face, and judging by how he was scanning around, he seemed to be observing the other passengers.

' _That seems… odd.'_ George thought to himself. What was especially odd was that he didn't recognize him. The graduates from Signal who were accepted into Beacon were the only ones that were supposed to be on board this ship, and this guy was clearly not a student from Signal. However, before he could think about the matter any further, a voice snapped him out of his observation.

"Hey, George! George St. John!" A male voice said excitedly. George turned his attention to see that a small group of students had taken notice of him and were making their way towards him.

 _'Brilliant,'_ George thought, severely annoyed. However, he put on a friendly face for the others.

"No way! You got into Beacon too?!" The one who got his attention said.

"Of course he made it into Beacon! You've seen him train. He could have made it into any school he wanted," A female student said as she appeared to ogle him, making George feel a little uncomfortable.

"Hey, maybe I can be on your team when we get assigned!" Another male said.

"As if! If anyone is going to be on George's team, it's going to be me!" The girl snapped at him.

"Look, everyone," George said, getting their attention, "I am flattered, really I am, but I don't deserve all of this praise."

"Are you kidding? You won the Vale Regional Tournament and graduated at top of the class! Of course you do!" The first male said, still star struck. George was about to tell them more, when he noticed something.

The guy in the blue vest had started to walk over to them, his hands behind his back. The two of them made eye contact as the other guy approached. All the while, the other students were still either admiring George, or bickering with each other over who would be on his team.

"He's so humble too. How… dreamy," Another girl said. George was about to tell her that he was already taken, when suddenly.

"Excuse me everyone," the small group of students turned to see who said that. It was the guy in the blue vest. "I believe that you all are bothering Mr. St. John here. I would recommend that you leave him be at the moment." His tone was moderately stuck up, but not condescending or pompous. Needless to say, he sounded like a very educated young man.

"And what's it to you?" One of the male students asked kind of harshly.

"Well," the blue-vested gentleman began, "In case you all didn't notice, Mr. St. John here was trying to get settled for the trip to Beacon. And tell me, do you think he would consider being any of yours teammate if you keep bothering him?"

Somehow, that worked. The group of starstruck students began to realize that they were probably irritating George.

"Oh man, he's right," One of the girls said. The group of students all one-by-one apologized to George before walking away to other parts of the ship's cabin, saying something about hoping they would be on his team as they did so. After the group had dispersed, it was just George and "blue vest" standing there.

"Um, thank you for that," George said, clearly thankful.

"My pleasure. I know how irritating being hounded by the masses can be," he responded.

"Well, my name is-" George began to say as he extended his hand for a handshake.

"George St. John," he interrupted, "top student at Signal Academy, as well as being regarded as one of the most gifted warriors in the entire kingdom of Vale." His tone was a little off putting, because he sounded as if he knew way more about George than he let on. Regardless, George still stood there with his hand extended.

"How do you know all of that about me?" George asked suspiciously, to which the young man chuckled.

"Let's just say I have my sources," he replied, before finally accepting George's handshake.

"I am Nikolaos. Nikolaos Myra of Atlas," he introduced himself. That's when it hit George, who's eyes widened at the introduction.

"Wait, wait… Myra? As in Myra Industries? One of the partner corporations of the Schnee Dust Company?!" George nearly yelled.

"The one and only," Nikolaos responded proudly as he and George let go of each other's hands. George, being a lightning Dust user, was taken aback that he was meeting a member of one of the families who he bought his Dust from.

"Well, it's an honor to meet you. But I'm confused… Why are you on this ship? Weren't the students from Atlas supposed to be arriving on their own?" George asked.

"Yes," Nikolaos responded, "however, my family made a little arrangement for me to arrive at Beacon on a different ship."

"But why?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest, to scout out potential partners," Nikolaos explained, "You see, I have information on all of the top students who will be arriving at Beacon this year. Being the planner I am, I wanted to do my best to meet as many of them before initiation as I could, and I chose you for the first."

"So poaching essentially," George responded.

"Well, I wouldn't put it quite like that. I'd call it… scouting out the talent," Nikolaos said.

"Riiiiiight," George said, as politely as possible.

"Surely you can see my reasoning for-" Nikolaos began, but was interrupted by someone walking into him, nearly knocking both of them over. However, only the newcomer fell to the ground. George stepped to the side to see who had walked into Nikolaos, while Nikolaos himself turned around, an annoyed and kind of angry look on his face.

The person who can walked into him was another young man. He was wearing a green jumpsuit with black boots. Over his jumpsuit's chest region was an orange chestplate that looked like it was made out of reinforced leather, with paddings on his legs made of the same material. He had shaggy black hair and a fair complexion. Holstered on his right hip was a beautifully crafted pistol, and on his left was a silver gauntlet with a single brass strip over it. Near the young man was a sketchbook, a pencil, and a pair of rectangular glasses.

"Oh, I am SO sorry for that," the boy said as he reached for his fallen glasses.

"As you should be! Who do you think you are, interrupting the two of us?!" Nikolaos nearly yelled at him.

"Hey man, don't be so hard on him," George told Nikolaos as he stepped forward to the boy sitting there, looking at the ground as he put on his glasses, clearly embarrassed. George offered his hand to him.

"Here, let me help you up," George said. The boy looked at George's hand before accepting the offer.

"Thank you so much," the boy said as George pulled him up. When he was on his feet, it was revealed that he was slightly shorter than George and Nikolaos. That was also when he made eye contact with the two of them. However, his eyes widened when he saw George.

"Wait a second… George St. John!" He said excitedly, surprising George a little bit and making Nikolaos cock and eyebrow.

"Oh man, now I'm even more sorry that I bumped into you guys. My name is Leo, Leo Vicci. I graduated in the same class as you." George felt like he had seen him before, and this only helped him realize where.

"Oh that's right. I have seen you around. We've just never introduced ourselves," George said as he offered another handshake, "well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you Leo."

Both of Leo's hands met George's as he excitedly shook George's.

"The pleasure is all mine. I must say, I'm actually kind of a fan of you," Leo told him before letting go.

"Um, well, I'm flattered to hear that," George said, kind of awkwardly. Nikolaos watched this interaction unfold. While this was happening however, the ship finally departed from the docks.

"Here, I even have a few sketches I made of you while watching you train," Leo said as he reached down to pick up his sketchbook and pencil. He flipped through a few of the pages before carefully but quickly ripping out three and handing them to George. George hesitantly accepted them, looking them over. All three of them were indeed of him in dynamic poses, and were actually very well done for "sketches" as Leo put them. Despite this though, this felt a little awkward to George.

"Wow… Uh, these are really impressive," He told Leo. He was telling the truth, but of course was weirded out.

"You really think so? Thank you so much! Feel free to keep them," Leo said. The sound of Nikolaos clearing his throat brought both of their attention to him.

"Excuse me, but George and I were in the middle of a conversation before you interrupted us," he told Leo, clearly annoyed.

"Oh right. I'm sorry about that again. I was busy sketching the design of the cabin here, and I guess I got caught up in it. I really didn't mean to interrupt," Leo told him. Nikolaos was about to tell him off again, when George spoke first.

"No really, don't worry about it. Accidents happen. And this was no different," He told Leo with a smile. Nikolaos was clearly annoyed with being interrupted again, but George didn't pay any mind to it. Leo however, seemed to brighten up at George's assurance.

"Well, thank you for being so forgiving of my blunder." Leo said with a slight bow of his head.

"And in other news," a female voice said loudly. All three of the young men looked in its direction. Of course it was the holo-television. Someone had just turned the volume up, loud enough for everyone in the cabin to hear it.

"Yet another spree of robberies and muggings of Faunas citizens by the infamous human dominance gang, the Blood Lotus, took place last night as a Dust shop and three innocent people were robbed at gunpoint. Backlash from Faunas citizens about these attacks have begun to reach their boiling point. However, Faunas rights groups, the White Fang and their recently founded splinter group, the Pure Breed, continue to urge Faunas citizens not to seek to repay the Blood Lotus and their few supporters with violence. More on this subject as it develops. This is Stacy Sandalwood with Vale News Network **.** Back to you Cyril."

"That doesn't sound good…" Leo said as the segment ended. George said nothing, but clenched his hands into fists. He had heard of the group, calling themselves "humanity's vindicator," the Blood Lotus. George hated their ilk almost as much as he hated the Grimm that plagued Remnant.

"While it is tragic, it is not our concern at the moment," Nikolaos said. "After all," he stepped forward towards the window.

"It's not every day you get a view like this." He gestured to the landscape beneath them. He was right of course. Calming himself, George sat down and tried to enjoy the rest of the ride.

* * *

Roughly ten minutes later, the ship finally docked at the cliff of the plateau Beacon resided on. For two of those minutes, George, Nikolaos, Leo, and just about every other student on board stood by the exit ramps, waiting for them to open.

And now, finally, they did.

While some students practically burst into a sprint to get off the ship, most of them took their time disembarking. George and his two "companions" were some of them. Before stepping off the transport, George sent a text message to Juliette to let her know that he had arrived.

Upon exiting the ship however, George's eyes widened as he saw the academy in person for the first time. The campus consisted of several ivory structures surrounding the beautiful green courtyard, with red leaved trees scattered though out. The main building stood out the most, and not just because of its height compared to the others. At the top of the tower, eight yellow orbs shined in the daylight. They were actually glowing, but this was not distinguishable during the day. Along the long stone walkway that led from the docks to the main campus was a statue of a Huntsman and a Huntress, standing triumphant over a fallen Beowulf Grimm.  
Most of the visible foot-traffic around the grounds were of course the now arriving new students. While nervousness and anxiety were present among the feelings of the new arrivals, excitement greatly overshadowed them both.

The three young men walked through the courtyard, clearly awestruck by the fact they were even there to begin with. Nikolaos however was a lot better at containing his excitement though.

 _"I wonder if my parents were the same when they first arrived."_ George thought.

"This place is INCREDIBLE!" Leo shouted like a fanboy, "The architecture itself is a masterpiece of art!"

"You can say that again Leo," George said as he started to walk backwards, still trying to constantly observe the place he had been dreaming of attending.

"Excuse me," a feminine voice said from behind him. George turned around quickly to be met with two people. One was a pretty young woman with sandy blonde hair, hazel eyes, and was wearing a simple but immaculate white coat with a gold interior and a light blue combat skin underneath, in addition to silver armor on her boots and shoulders. Holstered on her left hip was a gunblade with a gold and silver handle, and a shield collapsed into its compact form on her right. George could just barely see that on her back, she wore a metal backpack. At least, that's what it looked like.

The other person was male. He was slightly taller than her and had blond hair. His outfit was kind of simpler than hers, consisting only of his cloths, a pair of greaves, and a breastplate; but it still gave off an authoritative vibe. On his back was a two headed battle axe, collapsed for travel purposes.

George didn't recognize either of them, meaning that they, like Nikolaos, were from different schools.

"Sorry for prying, but I feel like I recognize your armor and weapon," the girl said, gesturing to his spear, "Are you George St. John?"  
"Yes, yes I am," George responded with a slight smile, slightly worried that they were going to be more 'fans'. Fortunately for him though, all the two of them did was smile back. The girl extended her arm forward for a handshake.

"A pleasure to meet the Vale Regional champion," she said in a friendly, but not star struck tone. While surprised and relieved by this, George responded to his offering by meeting her hand with his.

"My name is Angela. Angela Arch-Michaels of Mistral," she introduced herself. Like with Nikolaos, George had a moment of realization.

"Wait, I've heard of you. You won the Mistral Regional Tournament yourself, right?" He asked her. She nodded her head as they let each other's hands go.

"She also graduated top of her class at Sanctum as well," Nikolaos added in as he stepped forward.

"And you are?" the male with Angela asked.

"Nikolaos Myra, at your service," he said with a bow of his head.

"Good to meet you too, Nikolaos," Angela said. However, Nikolaos was moderately surprised that they didn't recognize his name. He was about to ask if they had ever heard of his family, when…

"Hey there!" Leo said as he also stepped forward, "Leo Vicci, at your service."  
Nikolaos' patience with Leo's constant interrupting of him was starting to wear thin.

"And to you too Leo," Angela replied with a friendly smile. After that, she stepped to the side and gestured to her male companion.

"This is Gabriel Whitfield, a fellow Sanctum Alumnus. He graduated second highest of our class." The male, Gabriel, stepped forward and wrapped his arm around Angela.

"Please though, call me Gabe," he said with a smile as well. Now that introductions were out of the way, George spoke up again.  
"Hey, so, since you guys are from Mistral, I suppose that it's safe to assume the other Mistral students have arrived?"  
"Yep. We were on our way to the great hall with the others when we noticed you. As a fellow champion, and classmate, we both figured we should introduce ourselves," Angela added.

"Well, why don't we all go together?" George suggested, to which all of them voiced their agreement. While walking to the great hall, the six of them shared stories of their time in their primary schools, their homes, and the like. George felt rather lucky that he met this group of people. With the exception of Nikolaos, they all seemed like very decent characters. Not that Nikolaos was bad or anything. Just a little too preppy.

As the group of them arrived at the great hall with what seemed like around eighty other students, George noticed someone standing at the entrance, leaning against it with his arms crossed. The person was male, but he looked like he didn't belong here. He was wearing all black, with a cloak included. His hair was also shoulder-length long and black as night. And for a brief second, George saw that his eyes were blood red. Holstered on his lower back was a kasuri-gama, with a design that looked intimidating to say the least.

As George looked at the guy, he stopped walking for some reason. The others in his group were too busy talking to each other to notice right away that George stopped. However, a few steps forward, Angela noticed. She turned around to see George standing there.

"Hold on one second guys," she told the others as she turned around to get George.

When she finally reached George, she put her hand on his shoulder, getting his attention.

"George, what's wrong?" She asked him.

"Oh, nothing is wrong. I just got distracted," He told her, earning him a puzzled expression from her.

"By what exactly?"

"By that guy," George tried to point at the male in the most inconspicuous way possible. Angela thankfully was able to follow his indication, and saw who he was talking about. For a second, her eyes widened before she grabbed George's arm and tried to pull him.

"Never mind that. Just come on," she insisted. George could hear a bit of concern in her voice, and he had noticed her reaction when he pointed out the young man.  
"Do you know him?" George asked her.

"Yes, and trust me when I say you shouldn't concern yourself with him."

Needless to say, this only made George even more curious about this student. So, without really thinking it through, he was able to quickly break free of Angela's grip and started walking towards him.  
"No," Angela whispered-yelled to him. When George was close enough, he greeted the student.

"Hello," he said in a friendly voice. However, when George was arm's length away, the young man slowly turned his head towards him, and looked George square in the eye. His stare, while not threatening or hostile, was not at all welcoming and actually sent a brief chill up George's spine.

"What?" The boy said. His voice was fairly normal sounding, but his tone made him sound like he had absolutely no interest being there at Beacon. After a brief silence, George broke the ice again.  
"Well, I just saw you standing here and thought I would introduce myself."  
"Why?" Was all he said in response.

"Well, seeing as to how now we are both students here, I figured 'why not?'" George's response was met with more silence. However, after a few seconds, the boy pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning on.

"Lucius," he said.

"Pardon me?" George asked.

"My name is Lucius, seeing as to how you were going to ask me."

"Oh, well, it's a pleasure to meet you Luci-" Before George could finish his introduction, Lucius had started to walk into the great hall. While George was slightly annoyed with this, he didn't make to follow him. After a few seconds of standing there, watching Lucius walk away, Angela's voice came from behind George.

"I tried to warn you," she told him.  
"Who exactly was he?"  
"Lucius Furon. He was a classmate of Gabe and I. Graduated 3rd highest in our class. Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to come to Beacon. In fact, I was actually kind of hoping not."

While George was a little curious as to why Angela thought this way, he decided now wasn't the time to inquire about that. So instead, he just followed Angela's lead and went with her into the great hall to find the others.

When the two of them walked into the great hall, the first thing George noticed was all of the colorful students. Needless to say, the room was a melting pot of many different kinds of characters. He then took a moment to observe the layout of the room. The great hall was a spacious auditorium with an elevated stage. Oddly, there were no seats, so everyone stood in scattered clusters. The ceiling rose nearly three stories high, and the main door was twice the size of an average person. The atmosphere reminded George of the fairy tale books his aunt and uncle used to read to him. Up on the stage at the far side of the room was a single microphone.

Looking around for the others, George and Angela quickly found them and ran over to them.

"What was that all about?" Nikolaos asked when the two of them were close enough.

"George here decided that he just had to meet a guy named Lucius," Angela answered. Gabe seemed surprised by what she just said.

"Wait, wait… As in Lucius Furon?" He asked, to which Angela nodded, "What is he doing here?" George was about to ask what the big deal was about Lucius when Leo spoke first.

"That all sounds very fascinating guys, but can we try to find a place to stand closer to the stage? When Ozpin walks out, I want to try to sketch hi-" Again, before Leo could finish his sentence, he walked into another person. Unlike when he walked into Nikolaos, Leo didn't fall down. The person he had walked into was huge. They stood at least six feet and seven inches in height, was wearing a black tank top with a chestplate over it, had shoulder length black hair, and was very muscular. The person also had a massive two handed sword sheathed on their back. Like when he walked into Nikolaos though, Leo wasted no time in apologize.

"Oh, I am so sorry sir!"

"Sir?" A feminine voice said. Quickly, the person turned around, exposing two decent sized mounds of flesh on their chest. Furthermore, the person's face was feminine.

It was obvious: this person was a woman. And she did not look amused to being called "sir."

All but Nikolaos' eyes widened at the revelation, especially Leo's, to the point in which it seemed like they were about to pop out of his skull.

"Uh oh," George said softly.

"Is that any way to talk to a lady?" The woman said to Leo, crossing her arms. Poor Leo was stammering, trying to apologize again.

"I… I… I'm SO sorry miss, I mean ma'am, I mean… I just thought that," Leo was terrified. However, his fears were soon put to ease, as the woman's expression changed from serious, to a friendly smile. In fact, she let out a quick chuckle before uncrossing her arms.

"Don't worry, I was just kidding," she told him. George and the others let out a sigh of relief at the news. Leo, while relieved, was still in a slight state of shock.

"I get mistaken for a man a lot. And honestly, I am not really surprised, with guns like these," the woman continued, tapping one of her muscular arms with her hand. George found the situation to be rather humorous, and because Leo was still at a loss for words, he decided to step forward and introduce himself.

"Sorry about Leo here. What's your name miss?" George asked as he extended his hand. The woman accepted George's handshake, with a mighty grip that took George slightly by surprise.

"Onyx. Onyx Stone. I come from Vacuo," she said pridefully. When she let go of George's hand, he shook it a bit before introducing himself.

"George St. John. From Vale." After George, each of their little group introduced themselves to Onyx. Leo, still a little apologetic for mistaking her for a man, was easily the funniest of the introductions. Though, it was equally humorous when Nikolaos introduced himself to Onyx with his full name, as if expecting her to have heard of his family. When it turned out she had not, Nikolaos was a bit taken aback.

Before any further conversation could be stricken up though, the lights in the great hall dimmed a slight bit, causing all of the clamoring in the room to lower down to shushes and the like. After the noise had mostly disappeared from the air, the two large monitors above the main stage lit up, as did several lights on the stage itself.

There stood two figures.

One was male. He was the tallest of the two, with short grey hair, brown eyes, and wore a pair of small spectacles. His clothes were different shades of green, and he wore a silver cross with a small purple gem in the middle around his neck. He also wielded a strange looking cane with a black shaft and a silver handle.

The person standing next to him was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She was a rather beautiful woman with long blonde hair and piercing green eyes. Her wardrobe consisted of a white blouse, a black corset along with black pants and high-heeled boots, and a cape with a purple interior. She held her hands behind her back, but one could make out the black riding crop that she held.

After a few seconds, the man stepped forward to the microphone and spoke into it with an authoritative and wise-sounding voice.

"Good evening, and welcome to you all. For those of you who do not know, I am Professor Ozpin, the headmaster here at Beacon."

Now, it was fairly obvious that it was Ozpin to everyone in the room, but it was still amazing to most to finally see the Beacon headmaster in the flesh.

" _So that's Ozpin… He looks a lot younger than I would have thought,"_ George thought to himself.

"You come here today to become future guardians of peace. You assume the gathering of knowledge is your greatest weapon; however, stronger than any semblance of power is recognizing your own purpose and direction. We shall provide you with just that," as the headmaster spoke, hushed whispers were exchanged between the students as they shared their opinions on what Ozpin was saying.

"I have not the shadow of a doubt that any individual can achieve what I have, if he or she is willing to make the same effort, and have the same hope and faith.  
For this, is the first step of many. Be strong and be wise. That is all."

After Ozpin was done with his little speech, he turned and took a few steps back. The woman stepped forward and took his place at the microphone.

"I am professor Glynda Goodwitch, the deputy headmistress to Professor Ozpin and combat teacher here at Beacon," she introduced herself. Her tone was somewhat haughty sounding, but also gave off a trustable and respectable vibe.

"Tonight, you will report to the locker rooms were you will find the lockers assigned to you at the door. There, you will store your equipment for the night. From there, you will report to the ballroom, where you shall be staying for the night. Rest well everyone, for tomorrow, your initiation begins. You are all dismissed."

As Goodwitch finished up her address, the lights in the room returned to their original brightness. George looked to his side to see what his party's reactions were to 'meeting' the headmaster and his assistant for the first time. Of course though, out of them all, Leo was the one who stood out, as it looked like he was furiously trying to finish drawing Ozpin and Goodwitch before they left the room.

"Well, that was certainly an experience," George said.

"I wish I could have recorded all of that," Leo said as he still tried to furiously sketch everything.

Following the instructions of professor Goodwitch, George and the others all reported to the locker rooms, where a monitor displayed their names and which locker was theirs. George was assigned locker 423.

" _Just like home,"_ he thought to himself as he went searching for his locker. When he found it, he punched in his personal code and opened the locker. George then removed his armor and placed it inside the locker, followed by his spear.

Later in the night, around ten o'clock, George found himself inside the ballroom along with all the other new arrivals. He had just finished brushing his teeth and taking care of his other nightly routine actions. He was now wearing his sleeping cloths, which consisted of a yellow tank-top and loose fitting pants. Ordinarily, he slept in just his underwear, but having heard that the sleeping arrangements for the night would be coed, he decided that wasn't appropriate. Looking around the ballroom, he took note of everything going on. The floor was covered in sleeping bags, all arranged in rows and columns, and all of the new students were either trying to get some sleep, read their books or scrolls, or conversing with each other.

George noticed a corner of the room that no one else was sitting at. Smiling to himself, he made his way to the corner, his scroll in hand.

When he reached his destination, George sat down with his back to the wall, opened his scroll, and hit the saved number on the screen. The scroll rang for a few seconds, before the screen was replaced with Juliette's face.

She was sitting in her room, and looked as if she was just about to go to bed herself.

"George! There you are," she said excitedly. George briefly saw the tip of her tail in the screen, indicating she was wagging it.

"Hello Juli," George said lovingly to her.

"So, how is it?" Juliette asked him.

"Amazing! It's everything I've ever dreamed of here. The campus is breathtakingly beautiful. It's almost hard to believe my parents once roamed the halls of this school."

"Does it almost feel like they're watching you right now?" She asked in a joking tone, to which George playfully rolled his eyes.

"You need to stop reading those wizarding school novels. So anyway, how are things back in town? Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" George asked in a joking tone as well, not expecting a serious answer. However, Juli's ears folded down and she looked away for a second.

"Well, yes actually. But not in a good way," she told him, "You know that one Dust store, the one owned by Twilight Sky?"

"Yeah, I know about it. Why?"

"It was robbed last night, by the Blood Lotus. They also badly beat Mr. Sky. Nearly crippled him. I noticed and heard about it when I passed the store to go home today."

George felt his blood turn to ice for a brief moment. He knew Twilight Sky, a raccoon Faunas, and was even a good friend of his. To hear that he was stolen from and brutalized by the bastards of the Blood Lotus…

"Juli, you still know how to use that knife I made for you, right?" George asked, seriously this time.

"Yes, I do. You taught me how to use it after all," she replied with a slight smile, as she reached over to her side and showed him the ornate knife he was talking about. George had crafted the weapon for her when he was still at Signal as a one-year-anniversary gift for her, so that she may have a way of defending herself when the time came.

"Good. The way things are sounding, the last thing I want is for you to be unprepared," George said. Juli, still smiling, shook her head.

"George, don't worry. I'll be fine." George smiled slightly in response.

"I know, I know. It's just… Never mind. I guess I'm just being a little to over-protective."

"That's one of the things I love about you," Juliette said dreamily, to which George let out a slight chuckle, "Well, I suppose I should be going. I can only imagine what you will have to do tomorrow."

"Initiation is tomorrow, so you're not wrong. Either way, sleep well Juliette. I love you."

"And I love you too, my handsome Grimmslayer," she said before blowing him a kiss. George responded by blowing his own before terminating the connection. After doing so, George lowered his scroll, feeling warm inside.

"Well, that was cute, but also a little nauseating," a familiar voice broke George out of his little trance. Turning to where the voice was, George looked up to see Nikolaos standing there, his arms crossed and an amused look on his face. He was wearing what looked like very well made white button-up pajamas, along with a blue robe he wore over it. Sort of like the stereotypical nightwear you would expect a rich man to wear.

Out of the corner of his eye though, George also noticed Leo sitting right next to him, looking out to the others in the ballroom, sketching something in his sketchbook. He was wearing a messy looking t-shirt with what looked like old paint stains on it, and orange silk shorts.

"Hey guys," George greeted them, "How long have you two been here?"

"Around the part when that girl told you she would be fine," Leo responded with a smirk, his gaze still glued to his sketchbook. George blushed slightly.

"Am I to assume that was your 'special-someone' on the other side," Nikolaos said. George nodded.

"Yep. Juliette Asimi. She and I have been together for just over two years now," he told them. Before any of them could continue, someone else called out to them.

"Hey guys!" George and Nikolaos turned to see who called to them, even though they already knew because of her voice. Angela and Gabe were walking towards them, Angela waving at them. She was wearing a white t-shirt, stretched to almost be like a nightgown, and loose-fitting sweatpants. Gabe was wearing a tight tank-top and loose fitting sweats as well. When the two of them were close enough, George responded.

"Hey guys. What's up?" He asked with a smile.

"Nothing much. Just getting ready to hit the hay. What are you guys up to?"

"Well, George here just finished talking to his sweetheart," Leo responded in a blunt but not mean-spirited tone, "I'm not really sure what Nikolaos is doing, and I'm here sketching the ballroom."

"Um, why?" Gabe asked

"The architecture of this room is beautiful, and all of the people in here also add another element that makes this a good portrait piece. See?" Leo turned his sketchbook around to show them his sketch. While clearly not done, the sketch was still rather amazing for something that was done quickly and in a place with not the best of lighting.

"Wow. That's pretty impressive man," Gabe told him, as all but Nikolaos seemed impressed with Leo's work.

"Speaking of sleeping arrangements, I feel like they could have done significantly better with ours for tonight," Nikolaos said. His tone made it clear that he was not very pleased with having to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor.

"It's not so bad," George responded, "My only complaint is that they didn't separate the boys from the girls."

"And why's that?" Angela asked him. George said nothing in response, and simply pointed to a small group of male students, ogling some of the attractive female students in their nightclothes.

"Fair point," Angela said with a chuckle, "I've had to deal with that a bit tonight myself."

"Until I make them back off," Gabe added as he cracked his knuckles a bit. George laughed slightly at the statement. He also had to deal with a few looks from the female students eyeballing him. Thankfully, none of them had tried to make a move on him yet.

"So I guess you two are going to try to be partners during initiation tomorrow?" George asked them.

"If we can, of course. Unfortunately, we don't know how partners or even teams are formed, so we will just have to go with the flow," Angela told him, "What about you George?"

"I'm not really sure yet. Between all of the people I've met today, there is no shortage of good partner or teammate material," George told her. He meant it too. While he had not seen any of them in action yet, he could tell that each of the fellow students he met today were quite skilled, and knew that he would be blessed to have any of them as his partner or teammate.

"Myself especially, seeing as to how I was the first to formally approach you, correct?" Nikolaos said with a smile.

"Umm, that's not exactly what I meant Nikolaos."

"Attention all new students," Goodwitch's voice came over an intercom in the room, "lights out in five minutes."

"What?! But I'm not done yet!" Leo complained as he quickened his pace to finish his drawing.

"Well, you should pick up the pace Leo," George said teasingly as he stood up. The group of them, excluding Leo, all turned to go to their sleeping bags for the night. However, George quickly stopped Angela.

"Hey, Angela, can I ask you something very quickly?"

"Of course. What's up?" She responded.

"Earlier, when I first met Lucius, you seemed kind of… unnerved by him. Why is that?" Angela paused for a moment before sighing and answering.

"I don't know, honestly," She told him, "Something about him just rubs me the wrong way. The whole time I went to school with him back at Sanctum, he usually just kept to himself. He never really did anything wrong, but he was not very receptive to others trying to be friendly with him. Also, he was rather aggressive when in combat training, which made quite a few of the other students afraid of him."

"Do you know why all of that is?"

"Well, rumor has it that he has some family issues. I don't know if I believe them, because they are just rumors, but I wouldn't completely dismiss it."

George was slightly saddened to hear this. He may not know Lucius, but he always felt a great deal of sympathy for those who had troubles back at home.

"Okay then. Thanks for that Angela. See you tomorrow," he told her with a friendly pat on the shoulder. Angela smiled before responding.

"You too George. And please, you can call me Angela, but also feel free to call me Angie," she told him with a wink before walking away to her sleeping bag.

George finally made it to his sleeping bag and crawled inside. As he did so though, he looked to his right and saw Onyx next to what had to be hers. She was doing what looked light one-armed push-ups with her left arm folded behind her back. After a few more reps though, without breaking her pace, she swapped arms and continued to do push-ups with her left arm.

" _Well, I guess that kind of explains how she got so huge,"_ George thought to himself before laying his head down and looking up at the ceiling. George laid there for a few minutes before all the lights in the ballroom went out.

As far as first days went, George considered today to be a pretty good one. However, as he drifted off to sleep, he knew that today was a cakewalk compared to what was in store for tomorrow. Tomorrow, the Emerald Forest and all the monstrosities it housed awaited them all.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 **So here is the second chapter.**

 **I hope it's easy to read. I'm still getting used to how the formatting for this site works, since it won't let me keep the original format.**

 **Also, does anyone else think it's stupid that you can't include links?**

 **Anyway, the next chapter is going to take a while. Not just because I am going to be rather busy lately, but next chapter is also when the action starts. Now, I've written action-y scenes before... But let's be honest: RWBY's action is more of a visual experience. ^^"**  
 **So I need to figure out how to make it awesome on "paper" without making it a cluttered mess and the like.**

 **In the mean time, I hope you all enjoy/enjoyed this one and look forward to the next.**

 **Again, if you want visuals of the characters, search for "BloodAngelsCaptain1" on deviantART.**

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated.**

 **VERY special thanks to the following:**

 **The Reader of Fanficton**

 **Diyaru4500 on deviantART**

 **RHY7HMICW4RRIOR on deviantART**

 **TeamGRAE on deviantART**

 **lightning-in-my-hand on deviantART**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Initiation (Part 1)**

* * *

George awoke the next day to what sounded like an alarm playing from the intercoms. While he was sad that both his sleep and vivid dream of him and Juliette lying in each other's arms on the beach watching the sunrise, he was eager to get this day started. Today was the day after all.

Wasting no time, George quickly got out of his sleeping bag, stood up, and stretched a bit. As he did so, he took notice of all the other inhabitants of the ballroom. Of course, a fair amount of the students, like him, wasted no time in getting into their morning routines. The easiest to notice right away was Onyx. In fact, when George first stood up, he noticed that she was already up before him, and was pumping out sit-ups just as fast and expertly as her push-ups last night.

And of course, there were _those_ students. The ones complaining about how they didn't sleep well, asking if they could have X amount of minutes, and all the other stupid things teenagers begged for in the morning.

After all was said in done, about half an hour after waking up, George found himself inside the locker room, equipping his armor. As he had done several times before, George positioned his armor perfectly in the way he preferred. After he was finally satisfied with his armor, he then donned his signature red tunic. The tunic was tattered and wornat the bottom and edges from years of wearing and combat training, but other than that, was well kept and beautiful. Tying the cloth belt around his waist, along with the crest in the shape of his personal symbol, George was dressed to kill, so to speak.

When he was done with his outfit, his attention immediately went to his pride and joy, which he pulled from the small rack it was hanging on in the locker. His spear. It was collapsed for storage, but when he pulled it out, it extended to its normal size. Before George closed the locker, he looked once more at the picture of Juliette he had taped to inside of the lockers door. He smiled to himself as he thought of her before closing the locker. George did the standard equipment check he always did when taking his weapon out of storage. He transformed his weapon from its neutral form, to spear form, to rifle form. All to make sure the transitions were smooth and quick. He then checked to make sure that the lightning dust crystal that served as both the catalyst for his lightning and the clip for the rifle form was at full capacity before changing it back to the spear form. As he was doing so though, he failed to notice two people walk up behind him.

"So that's it, huh?" A familiar female voice said to him. It startled George for a second, but not in any way that was noticeable. Turning around, he saw Angela and Gabriel, both standing in their combat outfits and their weapons sheathed.

"That's the 'Dragon's Bane,'" Angela said with a smirk as she crossed her arms. George smiled as he turned fully around.

"Yes. Yes it is," he replied with a smile.

"It's just as beautiful in person as it was in the pictures," Gabe added with a smirk.

"I'm glad you think so. This weapon is my pride and joy after all," George said as he sheathed Dragon's Bane, "So, what do you two have?"

"I'm glad you asked," Angela responded with a smile as she drew her sword and deployed her shield, "Here, we have Judgement and Aegis. Aegis is a special shield crafted from a light but durable metal that can deploy a larger energy shield that is capable of providing cover for multiple people. Judgement here is a double-edged sword made of the same metal as Aegis, and also doubles as a close-quarters firearm that chambers .44 magnum, armor-piercing ammo."

"So it's also a pistol," George said.

"Exactly," Angela responded.

"And Gabe?"

Gabriel smirked slightly as he reached behind himself and drew forth his weapon. As it extended to its full length, Gabriel wasted no time in explaining.

"Sandalphon. It's a battle axe that can split into two shorter axes, and," he split Sandalphon vertically in half and twirled to two halves as it transformed, "also transforms into two hand cannon pistols."

"That's pretty sweet," George remarked as Gabe returned his weapon to its original form.

"Ah, I see the prides of their schools couldn't resist meeting up again," another familiar voice spoke up from the side. The three of them turned their attention towards the source, only to see Nikolaos walking towards them, also clad in his combat gear.

"Good morning to you too, Nikolaos," George said as he crossed his arms.

"Hey guys!" Yet another familiar voice called to them from the other side of the room. George, Angela and Gabe all seemed rather happy to hear the voice, while Nikolaos visibly winced. Turning to the source all of them saw Leo jogging up to them before slowing to a stop.

"Hey Leo," Angela greeted him, "Good to see you."

"Speaking of which," Gabe added, "Where have you been all morning? We didn't see you in the great hall during the breakfast buffet."

"Oh, I was in the courtyard, sketching the sunrise from it. It was a perfect opportunity that I couldn't pass up."

"I had a feeling that it had something to do with that," George added teasingly to which Leo rubbed that back of his neck, kind of blushing. However, before anything else could be said, Leo felt something roll into the back of his left boot. Looking down at it, Leo saw it was an orange cylinder. He reached down to grab it and lifted it up.

"What's that?" Angela asked, as she, Gabe and Nikolaos looked at it puzzlingly. However, George and Leo both recognized what it was immediately.

"Uh oh…" George said.

"HEY! What're you doing?!" A male voice shouted from behind Leo, startling him and making him fumble the canister for a bit before finally catching it and collecting himself. Leo turned around to see two male students.

One was about his size and build with spikey brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing baggy cargo pants and had a whole bandolier of orange canisters lung around his chest, with one empty spot that clearly belonged to the one Leo currently had. Holstered on his back was a short, lever-action shotgun and a small blackjack like weapon.

The other boy was a taller and more muscular one. He had grey hair, yellow eyes, and was wearing what appeared to be a muzzle over his mouth in addition to black denim jeans and a white tank top with the image of a howling wolf on it. He was a wolf Faunas, as was evident by his wolf tail. On each of his forearms were two vambraces that looked like they were made of bronze.

The shorter guy walked up to Leo and snatched the canister from him.

"You need to be more careful with this! You could have set the whole place on fire if-" the boy stopped mid-sentence as he took a second to look Leo over.

"Wait a sec… Leo Vicci!" he shouted in joy as he placed the canister on the bandolier, "I didn't recognize ya for a sec!"

"Hello Yuri," George said to him, taking his attention off of Leo, "and you too Kyle," George concluded, indicating the other guy.

"Well, I'll be a lit fuse! George St. John too! I KNEW those rumors were true!" Yuri said.

"Of course they were true man. It's George St. John we're talking about," the one known as Kyle chimed in.

"You all _know_ each other?" Nikolaos asked, his tone surprised as if he was offended.

"Well… Yes. Yuri and Kyle here both graduated with Leo and I," George explained as Yuri stepped forward.

"Hey all. Yuri Votolom, resident pyromaniac, at your service!" He said excitedly with a little bow. Kyle rolled his eyes as he stepped forward himself.

"Kyle Corvin. Pretty much sums it up," his tone was friendly, but at the same time it was straight to the point.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet some of George's old classmates. I'm Angela Arch-Michaels," she introduced herself. As she did though, Yuri got uncomfortably close to her.

"Charmed, Ms. Arch-Michaels," he said with a toothy grin. Very quickly though, Gabriel pushed him back. Not in a way that was threatening, but it made it clear that Yuri was too close. Well, that and the unamused look on Gabriel's face.

"And I'm sure you know who _I_ am," Nikolaos said matter-of-factly. However, he was in for an unpleasant surprise.

"Uh… No. Sorry man," Kyle told him bluntly.

"Yeah, me neither," Added Yuri. Nikolaos looked not only dumbfounded, but also like the two of them had shot his dog or something. Before he could say anything in response though…

"All new students, please report to the Beacon Cliff in five minutes," Goodwitch's voice came from over the speakers.

"Maybe we should head there now. Beat the crowd," Leo suggested.

"I think that's a good idea," George said, to which the rest of them either voiced their agreements or nodded. As they all turned to leave the locker room, George noticed something.

There, he saw Lucius sitting on one of the benches, checking his equipment.

"Hey guys," George said, gaining his party's attention, "go ahead without me. There's a couple of things I need to go over with my equipment very quickly. I'll catch up when I'm done."

"Are you sure?" Angela asked, to which George nodded, "Alright. We'll see you in a bit."

With that, the rest of the group made their way out of the locker room, chatting with each other. As they did so though, George made his way to Lucius. He was too busy sharpening the blade of his kasuri-gama to notice George walk up behind him.

"Hello, Lucius," he said, taking Lucius' attention off of his weapon. Lucius looked at him with a neutral, but sort of annoyed looking stare.

"Hello. What do you want?" He responded rather bluntly as he returned to sharpening his weapon's blade. George took a deep breath before answering.

"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot yesterday, and I just wanted to wish you luck today with initiation."

"Thanks," Lucius said, not taking his attention off of his task, "but I don't need luck."

"Well, you see, I may not know you, but we are all here to become the guardians of our world, and bond as fellow Hunters. So, that's why I wanted to wish you luck regardless of whether you think you need it or not." Lucius sighed heavily as he stood up.

"Look George," he began, not making eye contact, "Your heart is in the right place and I appreciate what you're saying… but I'm going to make this clear…" Lucius then looked George right in the eyes. His gaze was not hostile in any way. It was just neutral and serious.

"I'm not here to make friends or anything like that. I'm here for one reason only: to become a Huntsman. If we just so happen to have to fight side-by-side, I will do so without hesitation. But don't expect me to go seeking your friendship, or that of anyone else," as Lucius finished his statement, he holstered his kasuri-gama flamethrower hybrid, The Beast.

"I'll see you at the initiation," he concluded as he walked right past George, pulling his mask over the lower part of his face. For a few seconds, George just stood there.

" _Well, that could have gone better,"_ he thought as he turned to leave. As he left the locker room, he broke into a light jog to catch up with the others. As he did so though, he took out his scroll and sent a text message to Juli.

'About to start initiation. Wish me luck!' His message read. About thirty seconds after he send it, he received a reply.

'Good luck! Plz be careful! Luv you! 3'

* * *

Already waiting at the cliffside were two other students. Both of them fellow signal graduates like George and Leo. One of them was a female. She was a pretty young woman with long hot pink hair, and was wearing asleeveless purple techno party dress with mauve highlights. She was also wearing skintight black latex leggings that covered her thighs, purple boots that matched her outfit, and a pair of stunner shade glasses. Holstered on her left hip was a pink sonic pistol, and she was carrying a decent sized boombox on her shoulder.

The other was a male lion Faunas. He had short dirty-blond hair with brown highlights, a tannish skin tone, and was wearing a brown sleeveless hoodie with fur patches around the neckline; accompanied by green cargo shorts with an opening in the back for his lion tail, and with the image of a roaring lion on the right leg. Sheathed on his right him was a parrying dagger, and covering his right forearm was a gold vambrace, housing a long chainsaw blade.

"Oooooh, this is so exciting Dan! Initiation is about to begin! You know it was a good idea you had: coming here before everyone else," The girl said to her friend. She was very giddy and had a hard time standing still.

"Thanks Luka. But you know, you shouldn't be to overly excited. It could really mess up your-" the boy, Daniel, told Luka.

"Oh, don't worry! I won't let it ruin my focus when the time comes. But hey, if we end up becoming partners, I'll have you to help me out with that anyway."

The two of them were so busy talking that they didn't notice Angela and the others arrive.

"Looks like you weren't the only one who had the idea to arrive before everyone else Leo," Gabriel said.

"Hey guys!" George called out to them. Angela, Gabe, Nikolaos and Leo all turned around to see George jogging towards them, while Kyle and Yuri walked to the launching platforms that lined the edge of the cliff. When George finally caught up to them, he slowed to a stop.

"Hey George. Everything all check out?" Leo asked him.

"Yeah. Right down to the wire."

Not long after they arrived, more students arrived as well. Among them was Onyx, who said hello to George and the others before finding herself a launching platform. Eventually, all of the students had found their own platforms.

The order was as follows: After a few other students were Lucius, Kyle, Yuri, Onyx, Luka, Daniel, Gabriel, Angela, George, Nikolaos, and Leo. They stood there and spoke for a little while until, eventually, Ozpin and Goodwitch walked into view and stood between them and the cliff edge.

"Good morning everyone," Ozpin addressed everyone. In his right hand, he held a grey-ish white mug with what appeared to be tea or coffee inside.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin announced.

" _Here we go,"_ George thought as other students whispered to each other.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams," Goodwitch began, "well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given your teammates, today. These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for your career at this academy," Ozpin added.

"Seems rather fair," Onyx said softly, enough for the others around her to hear. However, a fair amount of the other students, especially Nikolaos, didn't agree with her.

"After you have partnered up, make your way to the western end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

"How comforting," Angela whispered jokingly to George, who laughed softly in response.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will be graded appropriately upon your return. Are there any questions?" Ozpin concluded. No one spoke up.

"Very well. Good luck, and may your skills and instinct guide you to victory," Ozpin said before he and Goodwitch stepped back. As they did, each of the students got into their stances.

One by one, the platforms catapulted the students forward. A few 'good lucks' and the like were exchanged between some of the students before they were launched. When it was Lucius' turn, he said nothing as his platform launched him. Kyle, he growled as from his vambraces extended three long claws each. Right after that, he two was launched. Yuri pulled his bandana over his mouth, and right as he was launched shouted a single word.

"BANZAIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiii….." his shout faded as he flew further away.

"Well, at least he's showing his enthusiasm," George said to himself. Onyx was next, followed by Luka, who let out a 'woohoo!' as she took to the skies. Daniel followed suit, but was silent as he did so. Gabe was next, and even though he said nothing, he had an excited smirk on his face. Now it was Angela's turn. Before she went though, she said something to George.

"Catch you on the flip side," she told him with a smile before launching. Now it was George's turn. Like Gabe, he said nothing but also had an excited smirk.

" _Let's do this!"_ he shouted in his mind as he was sent flying. Not long after him, Nikolaos and Leo were launched as well.

As George flew through the air, he scanned the area beneath and in front of him. For as far as the eye could see, there were green-topped trees. There was no visible clearing at all among the sea of green. The rather calm and beautiful look the massive forest had was an effective façade for what it contained.

After a short while, George began to lose altitude. Looking ahead of him, he saw one tree with a strong looking branch around the top. He saw this as the perfect opportunity. As he drew closer, he extended both his arms and opened up his hands. When he finally reached, George grabbed hold of the branch with both hand. He swung around the branch for a single rotation before landing into a crouch position on the branch. Wasting no time, George drew Dragon's Bane and transformed it into its rifle mode. Aiming down the sights, George scanned the area around him for any possibly threats. Fortunately, there was nothing.

As he stood up, George looked above him to see some of the other students fly overhead. He smiled to himself.

"Godspeed everyone," he said as he changed Dragon's Bane back into its spear form. He then jumped from the branch and began falling to the forest floor. After free-falling for a few seconds, George stabbed the blade of his weapon into the trunk of the tree. His descent was slowed as his weapon served as an anchor. After he had slowed to a reasonable speed and was about ten feet from the ground, he kicked off from the trunk, removing Dragon's Bane's blade as he did so. He landed into a crouch position on the ground, right before immediately standing up and breaking into a light sprint.

* * *

Angela continued to glide through the air, the wind causing her hair to blow behind her. As she felt herself beginning to lose both altitude and speed, she smirked before activating her jump pack, Ascendance. As she did, the mechanical wings of Ascendance deployed, making her look as if she had grown them. Using her pack as well as he finesse, she glided more, dodging trees before gaining better control over her speed. After a short while, she slowed down and gracefully landed on the forest floor. After touching down, she drew Judgement and Aegis and stood battle ready, at the risk of any Grimm nearby. She was in the clear though. After she was she that she was clear, Angela slowly and cautiously began to move forward, keeping her eyes and ears open.

* * *

After George was launched, Nikolaos followed suit. After he flew several miles, he began to feel himself descending. As he did, Nikolaos angled himself in a way that his legs were perpendicular to the ground. Not long after he did so, Nikolaos popped open on of his Dust crystal canisters. Using his semblance, he drew the water from the Dust crystal as well as the moisture from the air and blasted a powerful torrent of water at the ground beneath him, slowing him down. After he had slowed down to a reasonable speed, Nikolaos ceased his torrent and simply prepared himself for landing. As he landed, he combat-rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. As he stood up from his crouch position, he dusted himself off, keeping his cool and serious expression. After he was done, he took a second to orient himself. Because he was launched after them, he had a good idea of where George and Angela were. Smirking to himself, he started heading the direction he was sure the two of them were in. He was determined to be partnered up with people he deemed capable.

* * *

Leo's launch began a little awkwardly, as he wasn't totally prepared for it. However, he very quickly regained control of himself and wasted no time in preparing his landing strategy. He deployed his shield, Vitruvian. On the back of Vitruvian was his special sketchbook. Grabbing his pencil from his belt, he flipped to a blank page. Several of the other pages already had well detailed but incomplete sketches of various creatures that he had done the night before and early in the morning. He made this a habit for when he knew he would be going out to combat soon. Upon reaching a blank page, Leo began to quickly and expertly sketch an eagle. Within around thirty seconds, a fine detailed drawing was complete, and Leo ripped the page out of the sketchbook. In seconds, an eagle made from paper, around the size of a small car, appeared flying next to Leo. Leo then placed his pencil back on his belt, and extended his right arm towards the paper construct. The eagle grabbed Leo's arm with its talons, and proceeded to ferry him to the ground. Despite coming in a little fast, their landing was rather flawless as the eagle let go of its burden and landed right next to him. Leo smiled at the construct.

"Thank you, noble creature," he said as the construct looked at him. Almost immediately after saying this though, the eagle appeared to crumple up before turning to dust. After his construct expired, Leo drew his pistol, Lisa, and began to make his way through the forest.

* * *

Onyx's landing was unique to say the least. She did not make any attempts to slow down as she began to lose altitude. Instead, she used her semblance, Obsidian Form, to transform her skin all over her body into obsidian. As she neared the ground, she angled herself in a way that she would land in a crouched position. And she did. However, because of her velocity and now nearly indestructible state, she created a small crater in the ground around her impact zone, and the earth around her shook a little bit. As she stood up, she smiled to herself as she also transformed her body into its natural state. Stepping out of the small crater she made, she began her journey through the Emerald Forest.

* * *

As Gabe was beginning to slow and descend he quickly looked around for an opportunity. Fortunately, he found one rather quickly, in the form of a young but still massive tree in front of him. Drawing Sandalphon, Gabe angled himself so that he would lose speed quicker. Not long after that, he made contact with the tree, but not in a clumsy or comical way. He sunk the blade of Sandalphon into the top of the tree, and quickly slid down its trunk, splitting it in half as he did so. When he finally reached the ground, Gabe removed Sandalphon's blade and broke off into a sprint, heading for the western part of the forest.

* * *

By now, all of the launched student had landed somewhere in the forest, and were now trying to figure out where to go. George had a better idea of where he was, because despite the thick forest top, he could make out the sun and its current location. Using that as his compass, he was making his way through. Dragon's Bane drawn and in spear form, he kept alert to all possible signs of him being stalked. It was no secret that the creatures of Grimm infested this forest like a virus, and he had no intention of falling victim to any of the monstrosities.

As he made his way through though, he also had something else on his mind: who was going to be his partner. He had already hit it off with a good portion of talented and skilled candidates, but what if he ran into someone who he didn't know. Or worse, one of the "fans" he had from Signal. Regardless of whoever it was, he was going to work with them to the best of his ability, and would be there to aid them, but he still hoped it would at least be one of the others he had gotten to know in the past day.

It was then though that George heard a twig snap. He immediately stopped and froze. However, he didn't freeze out of fear. Without moving, George looked around him for any signs of his stalker. Nothing in front of him, so it was behind him. He knew immediately it wasn't another student, because a somewhat foul smell accompanied the twig snapping, and not a smell associated with normal wildlife. His grip on Dragon's Bane tightened, and he let out a sigh.

' _Come and get me,'_ He thought. As if on cue, the sound of large objects hitting the grass behind him in rapid succession erupted behind him. Not long after that, a roar. The roar of a Beowulf. George smirked as he stood still. The beast leapt at him, and just as it was about to slash him, George jumped out of the way. He landed right next to where the Beowulf did. Before the Grimm could even turn its head in his direction, George ran Dragon's Bane's blade through its neck, killing it.

However, now was not the time to celebrate. Right after he slew the Beowulf, George heard grunting and running from behind him. Turning his head around as far as he could, George saw an Ursa coming right for him. Not removing his weapon from the Beowulf's body, he jumped over its corpse, doing a flip as he did so. The turning of the blade in its neck also cut the deceased Beowulf's head clean off. As he jumped through the air though, George, using his semblance, conjured a lightning bolt in his left hand. By the time he landed, the bolt was fully formed and ready. The Ursa was a few feet from him now, and let out a roar. As it did so though, George threw his lightning bolt, and it hit the Ursa right in its open mouth, blowing off the top of its head. The Ursa's body fell forward and skidded to a halt, right next to the Beowulf.

"What, is that all?" George asked sarcastically with a smile as he stood up straight. Right after he did though, he heard gunfire. Not rapid gunfire like from an automatic weapon, but single and powerful shots. He looked in the direction from where it came from. It sounded rather close. Unless the Grimm learned how to build and use firearms in the past three seconds, it had to be another student. Not thinking twice about it, George took off running in the sound's direction, leaving the two dead Grimm to decay.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 **Third chapter away.**

 **So, I hope I did the action sequence well, considering this is my first time writing a RWBY action scene.**

 **Again, next chapter might take a while, as it will have even more action, plus school starts back up again soon so there is also that.**

 **To address the reviews I have received:**

 **-HaloSam296: I'm glad you are enjoying it so far and hope you continue to do so.**

 **-An Irate Critic: First of all, thank you for stopping by to "review." hHowever, I feel like you didn't take time to look into the name George. I explain how it fits the CNR in the notes of chapter one, so if you would be willing to look there, you will see how I think it fits. (It can fit in one of two ways: The color red, or the color brown.)**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one.**

 **Again, if you want visuals of the characters, search for "BloodAngelsCaptain1" on deviantART.**

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated.**

 **VERY special thanks to the following:**

 **The Reader of Fanficton**

 **Diyaru4500 on deviantART**

 **RHY7HMICW4RRIOR on deviantART**

 **TeamGRAE on deviantART**

 **lightning-in-my-hand on deviantART**

 **tanaloth on deviantART**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Initiation (Part 2)**

* * *

Angela had been making her way through the forest at a slow but steady and efficient pace. She had her "wings" retracted so they would not get caught on any of the flora. As she continued forward, she had the sneaking suspicion that she was not alone, and that those with her were not friendly. However, because the presence had not made a move on her yet, and she felt that the foliage was a little too thick for her to fight efficiently, she continued onward.

Unfortunately, that patience of her stalker, or stalkers, had worn thin. With little warning, a Beowulf lunged at her from behind a large rock, growling menacingly, its claws ready to strike. Angela heard the beast's growls and turned its direction. She raised Aegis up and easily blocked the Beowulf's attack. Without missing a beat, Angela parried the attack, and swung Judgement at the monster, cutting the top half of its head off. As the corpse fell to the ground, Angela saw that it had come with its whole pack.

Angela quickly turned and ran. Not out of fear, but to find a better location where she could take them all on. As the Beowulves gave chase, Angela occasionally looked back and fired a few shots from Judgement's pistol at the ones closer to her. Even when running, Angela's aim was true, and she scored either killing head shots or crippling leg shots. When she turned her head back, she saw that they were coming up to a clearing. Angela smiled.

Right as she made it to the clearing, Angela leaped forward, her jump pack sending her flying and her wings deploying. This gave her even more ground ahead of the pack, and she landed in a combative stance. As she did, the pack had entered the clearing as well and began to slow down, approaching her cautiously. Angela smirked as they did so.

"Come on boys. It's rude to keep a lady waiting," she taunted them. For some reason, that seemed to work. Out of the twenty or so Beowulves, four of them charged her. Angela blasted forward with her jump pack. She cut one of the four charging beasts in half as she bolted past it, and blocked the attack of the next one. Another Beowulf tried to take advantage of the fact that her shield was preoccupied and attack her from the side. However, Angela foresaw this and extended Judgement in its direction. The beast impaled itself on Judgements blade, and as it was impaled, Angela fired a round from her weapon. The force combined with her jump pack pushed her away from the now dead Beowulf and the other who's attack she blocked. As she flew towards another Beowulf, one standing on its hind legs and looked like it was set to grab her, Angela quickly altered her angle and blew past this one, cutting it in half as well. Three down, seventeen to go.

Two more approached her from behind, both ready to strike. Instead of blocking either of them this time though, Angela dodged the first and cut off its leg. The Beowulf howled in pain as Angela, in the same motion, cut off the other Beowulf's head. Still in the same motion, she drove Judgement's blade into the side of the wounded Beowulf's head. Unfortunately, while Angela was busy with these two, a third had snuck up behind her. Before Angela could react and remove her sword from the head of the other monster, the assailant lunged, claws ready to rip her apart.

The Beowulf never made it to its prey though.

About halfway to Angela, a lightning bolt struck the beast in the head, blowing it off. Angela heard the sound of electricity and turned her head to see the corpse of the Beowulf skidding towards her, small amounts of lightning crackling around its corpse.

"Need a hand?!" she heard a familiar voice call out from her left. She smiled as she turned her head just in time to see George jump from a large rock. Dragon's Bane in its rifle form, he fired of few lightning infused rounds at another Beowulf that had made its way near her. George landed right next to her and transformed Dragon's Bane back into its spear form as Angela removed Judgement from her last kill. Both stood in their combat stances and quickly looked at each other, making eye contact. They still had thirteen more.

The remaining Beowulves had had enough though. With a roar from their alpha, they all charged forward. The two Hunters also charged. As Angela neared the five approaching her, she leapt forward, Ascendance giving her a boost. George just continued to advance on the five heading for him.

Angela, like her first and third kills, flew right past one, cutting it in half. She rammed into another with Aegis, but in a way that, combined with her force and the pointed edge of Aegis' lower half, impaled another Beowulf's midsection with her shield. While this did not kill the monster, it brought her to a stop. As her remaining three opponents closed in on her, Angela stabbed the Beowulf impaled by Aegis in the side of the head with Judgement. When the closer of the three remaining Beowulves was in striking range, Angela removed Aegis from the other's corpse, effectively dodging the attack and causing the Beowulf to stab the corpse of its deceased packmate with its claws. Before it could remove its claws, Angela kicked the beast in the head, disorienting it. As she did so, she removed her sword and cut the Beowulf's head off. The two dead monsters looked like they had run into and killed each other.

Her remaining two opponents had both closed the gap and were both attempting to swipe at her. She blocked, parried, and dodged their attacks until one of them stumbled from her parry. She bashed the monster with Aegis and stabbed it through the throat, killing it. The last Beowulf swiped at her again, but she dodged it, her sword still in the other Beowulf's neck. She dodged in a way though that she turned the Beowulf's body with her. She landed in a way that the blade of Judgement now faced the surviving Beowulf, even though it was still in the other's neck. As the surviving monster recovered from its attack, it turned to be greeted with a bullet to the head from Angela's weapon. As she fired, she pushed herself away from her kill, removing her blade from the corpse's neck. She landed a few feet away as she watched the two bodies fall to the ground.

As Angela was dispatching her targets, George was handling his. When he was a few feet from the first Beowulf, he combat slid right by it as it swung at him. As he did so though, he cut the monster's leg off with Dragon's Bane's blade. As the Beowulf scrambled to the ground, trying to correct itself, George slid right past it until he slid to a stop. He immediately jumped to his feet and dodged an attack from one of the other Beowulves. George swung the blade of his spear at the staggered Beowulf, cutting a deep wound into its skin. In the same motion, George turned and blocked another Beowulf. Parrying the attack, George knocked the Beowulf back a bit with the bottom end of his spear's shaft. Before the monster could recover, George ran his weapon's blade through its head from the lower jaw.

After slaying two of his five target, George conjured a lightning bolt into his left hand. At the right second, he withdrew his weapon from the deceased Beowulf and side stepped just in time to avoid another one's attack. Taking the lightning bolt he had conjured, George swung it overhead as if it was a sword he was holding with the blade pointed downward. The bolt made contact with the Beowulf's head and went right through it. If it had been a sword, it would have pinned the monster's head to the ground. The last two, if you can still count the one missing one of its legs, were circling around George. The one with all its limbs still remained on its hind legs, while the other tried to maneuver as best it could with just three legs.

Angered by its wounding, the three legged Beowulf lunged. However, as one could guess, it was sloppy and poorly coordinated. George extended Dragon's Bane toward the beast and impaled it in the chest. As this happened, the other Beowulf charged. George very quickly channeled lightning into the blade of his spear, which carried over to the corpse impaled on it. With one mighty swing, he flung the Beowulf copse off of the blade of his spear and it collided with the other. There was so much lightning coursing through the body that it might as well have been a ball of electricity. When it made contact with the other Beowulf, not only did it knock it to the ground, but the discharge was so great that it practically fried the living Beowulf. George stood triumphant over the five dead monsters. He unfortunately did not notice one of the last three sneak up on him.

Quietly, the Beowulf snuck up behind George, stood up, and was ready to strike. As it did though, Angela, who had just finished dispatching her share, jumped between George and the monster, blocking the strike with Aegis. George, having heard the ordeal behind him, quickly turned around, swinging Dragon's Bane as he did so. His strike cut the top half of the Beowulf's head clean off. Now there were only two left, one of which charged both of them. This one, the Alpha.

George and Angela, as if reading each other's minds, sprang into action. Running ahead of Angela, George made it to the Alpha first, dodging its attack as he made it. Instead of killing the beast, George merely hit its chin with the bottom end of his spear, causing the monster to recoil. In a way that left its chest completely vulnerable. With that, George crouched as Angela leapt from behind him and sunk her sword into the Alpha's chest, killing it. Only one Beowulf was left. It stood there, eyeing the two of them, and unmoving. George and Angela both looked at the monster, meeting its gaze. After a few seconds of staring it down, Angela smirked slightly, and uttered one word.

"Boo."

The Beowulf turned tail and ran as if it was caught on fire. **  
**

George and Angela both stood there among the dead Beowulf pack, catching their breath. After a few seconds, when both of them had caught their breath, they both looked each other in the eyes. Both welcomed each other with a smile.

"I guess this means we're partners now," Angela said with a cheeky tone. George chuckled slightly before responding.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," he responded as she sheathed Judgement.

"So, do you have any clue on where to go from here?" she asked.

"Sort of. Ozpin said our objective was on the western side of the forest, and judging by the sun and the time of day," he began, looking around trying to orient himself. As he did though, he heard Ascendance's jets come to life. When he looked back to where Angela was standing, the space was vacant. He looked up and saw her hovering several meters above him and appeared to be looking around. When she was done, she quickly descended and landed right back where she stood.

"It's this way," she said, tone still cheeky.

"Heh. Show off," George said jokingly, to which she laughed. With that, the two of them started heading in the direction Angela pointed out, leaving the Grimm corpses to their rapid decomposition.

* * *

Nikolaos continued his trek through the Emerald Forest as his own, leisurely pace. While he didn't have a compass or anything to properly orient himself, he did remember that when he was launched from the cliff, he was facing north. So, he went to his left when he began his journey.

He didn't sense any danger so far, and was thankful for that, but at the same time wished that something exciting would happen. If for nothing else, to give those who were monitoring him a chance to see his skill.

That's when it happened. Nikolaos heard a deep growl coming from behind him. He smiled, pleased that he now had that chance.

Quickly popping of the lids of one of his Dust crystal canisters, Nikolaos fired a quick but powerful stream of water from his palms, sending him airborne. Right as he did so, an Ursa landed right where he once stood, having pounced at it in an attempt to get Nikolaos. Landing expertly, Nikolaos drew his falcata, Auqa-Lash, and spoke to the Grimm.

"Ordinarily, I would be furious at something interrupted a pleasant stroll, but I suppose I should thank you," as he spoke, the Ursa recovered from its failed attack, "for you've given me a change to display my talents."

The Ursa growled at Nikolaos as it set up to charge him again. When it finally did charge, so did Nikolaos. About halfway to the Ursa though, he used his semblance to fire a volley of "water darts" at the Ursa's head. This caused the monster to stagger and slow its pace. As this happened, Nikolaos pressed the switch on his weapon's handle, changing it from its falcata form, to its bladed whip form. In one fluid motion, when he was close enough, Nikolaos jumped over the staggered Ursa, wrapping Aqua-Lashes whip word around its neck as he did so. Because the Ursa was still running forward, it played right into Nikolaos' trap. As it moved, the bladed whip grew tighter around its neck, until with one quick and forceful tug from him, the Ursa's head popped off like a bottle cap.

As Nikolaos landed and the headless body of the Ursa fell to the ground, he smirked to himself. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice that another Ursa had snuck up behind him. Quietly, the Ursa stood up and was about to slash at Nikolaos. However, a bullet to the head put an end to that plan.

A lone gunshot rang out, snapping Nikolaos' attention to behind him. He turned only to see the would-be Ursa "assassin" fall to the ground dead. The bullet had entered its head from the left eye and exited through its right. A clean shot.

Nikolaos could tell that it wasn't George, due to hit weapon's ranged mode firing lightning infused rounds. So Nikolaos came to the conclusion that it was Angela who had just saved him.

 _'_ _Not my first pick, but definitely a preferable one. I'm sure that the two of us will make a fine-'_ Nikolaos' thoughts were interrupted by a familiar, male, voice.

"Hey! Hey Nikolaos!"

Nikolaos' heart sank into his stomach at the sound of the voice, and a look of horror made its way to his face. He heard footsteps coming from where the voice originated, and with each one he felt his heart skip a beat. When the footsteps stopped, indicating that the person was close to him, Nikolaos closed his eyes and turned his body in the direction of the voice, praying that he just heard the person wrong. But as he opened his eyes, he felt himself wishing that the Ursa had killed him.

Leo Vicci stood there with a smile on his face and his pistol draw, the barrel still smoking.

"Talk about good timing, huh? I was following this one cardinal that I found, trying to get a few good sketches of it, but the dang thing wouldn't stay still. So I kept trying to follow it, and that's when I heard growling and water rushing so I followed the noises, and, well, I showed up just in time to take out that Ursa. Lucky for us huh?" Leo explained excitedly. Nikolaos remained silent, cursing to himself in his head.

"Sooooo," Leo added, "Do you have a partner yet? I mean, I guess not because I didn't see anyone with you, but maybe they could've been hiding or something. But if you don't, I guess that means we can be partners," Leo's smile never faded as he spoke to Nikolaos.

"Partner…" Nikolaos said softly.

"What's that?" Leo asked, having not heard him well.

"I have to be _your_ partner?!" Nikolaos responded louder this time.

"Well, that is what Ozpin said, right?" Leo said with a nervous smile.

As they spoke, Leo quickly noticed something behind Nikolaos. Before he could get a better look at it though, it lunged at the two of them, appearing as if it was targeting Nikolaos.

"Look out!" Leo shouted as he sprang into action, pushing Nikolaos out of the way. After he did, Leo deployed his shield, Vitruvian, and raised it. The claws of the creature made contact with the shield and knocked Leo back and off his feet. Landing a few feet away and on his back, Leo quickly jumped back up, as did Nikolaos to see that their new attacker was an Ursa Major. Most likely the one of the two Ursa they already killed.

"Spectacular! Now I have TWO headaches to deal with!" Nikolaos said angrily as he conjured an orb of water into his left hand. As he did this, Leo quickly holstered his pistol, drew his pen, and began to add the finishing touches to a drawing he had prepared last night.

With Nikolaos being the closest, the Major turned its attention to him. Lunging at him, Nikolaos extended his left arm, blasting a torrent of boiling water at the Major. However, the monster payed no mind to the pain of the water. With both of its large claws, it swung at Nikolaos, who barely dodged it. He was about to stab the beast when it back handed him, knocking him back. Nikolaos recovered quickly though and readied for another attack. The Major was about to strike again, when suddenly, a large, finely detailed paper wolf jumped onto its back and bit at its neck. The monster flailed around, trying to grab or shake the construct off. Nikolaos turned his head to the side to see Leo standing there with a smile on his face.

"Quick! Finish it off while my wolf has it distracted!" Leo told him. Nikolaos scowled and sheathed Aqua-Lash. This time, he conjured a large amount of water to both of his hands, forming massive blades with them. Just then, the paper wolf let go of the Major and jumped from its back. At the moment, the monster had its back turned to Nikolaos. Not wasting any time, he leapt forward and drove both of his water blades into the Major's back. As the monster howled in pain, Nikolaos quickly slashed upward, cutting its upper body vertically in half. Kicking off from the Major's back, Nikolaos landed and the blades of water around his hands collapsed, soaking the ground beneath him.

Nikolaos looked over to Leo, who was petting the paper wolf he had summoned.

"Well done, well done indeed my friend," Leo told the wolf right before it crumpled up and disappeared. After it did, Leo returned his attention back to Nikolaos.

"Good teamwork there partner," he said.

"Don't call me that!" Nikolaos snapped at him, making Leo flinch slightly.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?" Nikolaos nearly yelled, "What's wrong, is that out of all the potential candidates for a partner I could have gotten, out of all the skilled students I could have run into, it's YOU I get stuck with!"

Leo was, justifiably, upset to hear Nikolaos say this, but didn't show it.

"Well… I'm sorry. But we can't really do anything about that now, can we? We're partners now, and well…"

"Well what?" Nikolaos asked harshly. Leo pointed to one of the decaying corpses of the Ursai. The one he shot.

"I did save you earlier."

Nikolaos was speechless.

"I know I might not be as talented as George or Angela, but you don't have to worry man," Leo added, still keeping a positive tone, "I will have your back."

Nikolaos was still angry about this situation. Very angry actually. But Leo was right. He did save him, and while he didn't seem like much, Leo's semblance did just prove its usefulness. What Nikolaos said next though really hurt his pride.

"Fine."

Leo was happy to hear this, smiling again.

"But know this," Nikolaos added, "I may be stuck with you, and I will work with you," he turned his back to Leo, "but that does NOT make us friends. Got it?"

"Um, sure," Leo responded, slightly glumly.

"Now come on," Nikolaos gestured for him to follow, "I'm sure the temple is this way." With that, the two of them started walking through the forest, both dead silent.

* * *

Gabriel continued to make his way through the forest, both eyes and ears open for any possible threats. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but he could swear he was being watched. And not by anything friendly. His grip on Sandalphon tightened as he continued forward, walking backwards from time to time.

Nearby, Onyx was also walking through in what she assumed was the right direction. She never really was that great at orienting herself in these kinds of situations. After a short while though, she heard what sounded like twigs snapping. Reaching for her sword, Sunder, which was still sheathed on her back, but not drawing it, Onyx prepared herself for a possible confrontation. She now walked in a battle-ready stance.

Both Onyx and Gabe were walking backwards when they entered each other's vicinity. If not for this, they would have noticed each other immediately. As one could expect, they continued to walk backwards towards each other. Before either of them knew it, they had both walked right into each other. For a brief second, they stood back to back, both of them surprised and nearly jumping out of their skin. Both jumped away from each other, Onyx drawing Sunder while Gabe got battle ready, and turned to one another.

Gabe and Onyx made eye contact and after a few seconds, both of them settled down, realizing what had happened.

"Good God, you nearly gave me a heart attack," Gabe said to her in a friendly tone as they both lowered their weapons. Onyx laughed slightly at the situation.

"And what about you? What were you trying to do?" She asked.

"I don't know. I felt like something was stalking me, so I guess I just got a little to overly-cautious."

Little did the both of them know, their caution was warranted. While they laughed at themselves for what had just happened, Onyx heard something. Hissing.

Before she could tell Gabe what she heard, a King Taijitu crashed its way through the trees next to them, drawing both of their attention to it. It was an adolescent one judging by its size, but still large enough to make a meal out of the both of them. As the two Hunters got back into their fighting stances, Gabe realized how fairly clear the area they were in was. He and Onyx must have accidentally wondered into or near its nest.

"Uh oh," he said as both the heads of the beast got set to strike. The white head lunged first, heading straight for Onyx.

"Onyx, look out!" Gabe yelled at her. She already saw it coming and used her semblance to turn her skin into obsidian. She also rearranged her stance in a way that she would have better leverage. When the Taijitu made contact with her, it recoiled in pain as hitting her in that state was the equivalent of ramming into a canyon wall. After this Onyx changed her form back and charged the serpent.

As this happened, the black head lunged at Gabe, maw wide open. Gabe jumped back at the perfect moment as the snake got a mouthful of dirt and grass. Gabe quickly jumped onto the monsters head and swung Sandalphon downward, driving one of the blades into the head. However, he did not hit it in an area that would be lethal. Instead, the snake began to flail around, trying to shake Gabe off as he tried even harder to hold on.

As Gabe was taking care of the black one, Onyx was busy with the white head. She tried to get close enough to actually deal some damage but the damned thing was too fast. After she realized this, she transformed Sunder into its ranged form, an explosive harpoon gun, and tried to shoot it instead. Unfortunately, the snake was still too quick and Onyx would instead hit nearby foliage. She got lucky with one shot though, as she hit a nearby tree that the snake lingered close enough to be hit in the blast of her harpoon's explosion. It did not wound the monster, but it did concuss and stagger it. Smiling at herself, Onyx changed Sunder back into its greatsword form and was about to charge to finish the job. When…

"Onyx!" She heard Gabe yell and turned to see him still holding on for dear life on the black head. She knew the white one was indisposed for a short time, and she needed to help Gabe. She realized that they were partners after all.

"Hold on there Gabe!" She called out as she rushed towards the two of them!

"What do you think I'm doing?!" He yelled in response. As this happened though, his grip accidentally loosened on Sandalphon's handle, and he was finally bucked off of the serpent. Gabe landed on his back a few meters away, and right as he sat up the black head lunged at him. At the last possible second, Onyx lunged and made contact with the black head, running her blade into its eye. The force of her contact made the both of them slide several feet away from Gabe.. The now dead black head laid lifeless as Onyx pulled her blade from the monster's eye. After she did, she reached for Sandalphon, pulled it from the head and tossed it back over to Gabe, giving him a smile as she did so.

As Gabe stood up and caught his weapon, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. The white head was still alive, and it lunged at Onyx. She didn't even notice when it happened, having forgot about it when she came to help Gabe. He didn't even waste the time to warn her. Using his semblance, Gabe swapped places with Onyx. She was shocked to find herself standing in a different spot in an instant, but soon saw why. Gabe now stood where she once was, and she saw the white head about to devour him. Gabe however, was prepared for this, and swung Sandalphon vertically at the right moment, cutting the serpent's white head vertically in half. The two headed snake was dead as could be.

Gabe walked over to Onyx.

"Thanks for the save," she told him with a playful punch to his arm.

"No problem. Consider it a 'thanks' for saving my skin."

"So, do you have any clue where we go from here?"

"Actually, I was kind of hoping you would know," Gabe said with a nervous smirk, "but if I had to say, this direction?" he pointed to his left.

"Lead the way partner," Onyx told him.

Luka Mauve was walking through the forest, listening to some music she had set up the previous night on her boombox, The DJ. She had on a pair of Beats by Red headphones and was really enjoying herself. One would think that this was her being careless, though this is untrue. While it isn't the most responsible of things, Luka's heightened sense of hearing as well as her over all alertness more than made up for this little habit.

She was listening to a remix of a song by the artist Tri$ha when out of nowhere, a Beowulf pounced at her. Luka heard the monster coming for her and jumped out of the way. Unfortunately, the Beowulf was able to cut the wire of her headphones. When the two of them landed, three others joined the Beowulf while Luka took off her headphones, looking at the severed wire. She turned her gaze to the Grimm, her expression one of annoyance and anger.

"These were expensive headphones you jerk!" she yelled as she dropped them. The Beowulves took this as a challenge and charged her. Luka stood her ground until the closest Beowulf swiped at her. She dodged the attack in a way that looked like a dance move. The other Beowulves all took their turns in trying to kill her, but she always avoided their attacks in ways that looked like she was dancing. After a short while, Luka dodged another attack from a Beowulf, but in the same motion delivered a round-house kick right to the monster's head, staggering it. In the same motion, she drew her sonic pistol, Feedback, and put the barrel right up to the beast's temple. With a single pull of the trigger, the Beowulf's head exploded like a balloon being filled with too much air.

When the other three came after her, she cartwheeled away, but did so at the right moment that as she did she kicked on of the Beowulves in the chin. When she landed her cartwheel, she quickly swung The DJ and hit one of the others in the head. In the same motion, she delivered a multitude of kicks to its head as well until the beast was dazed and confused. Luka then kicked its left hind leg in, making it fall to all fours. Almost immediately after that, Luka spun around and performed a powerful heel kick to the Beowulf's neck, breaking it with ease.

As Luka turned around to face the last two, she saw that one of them had pounced at her. She was just about to dodge it, when suddenly a pulse of orange energy hit the monster in the chest, knocking it to the side. Luka turned in the direction the shot came from to see Daniel running towards the last two Beowulves, his right arm extended and his weapon, Lion's Claw, showing signs of having just been fired.

Daniel drew his parrying dagger in his left hand and deployed Lion's Claw's chainsaw as he rushed forward. When one of the Beowulves swung at him, he ducked and skewered the monster in its midsection with the chainsaw. The beast howled in pain as Daniel moved his arm in a way that the chainsaw cut it in half. By this time, the other Beowulf had recovered and attacked Daniel. He easily parried the monster's attack with his dagger, and then swung his saw at its neck, cutting through it with ease.

After his two opponents were dead, Daniel turned to Luka, who looked at him with a smile and her right hand on her hip.

"Hey Luka," he said as he approached her.

"'Hey' to you too Danny-boy. How'd you find me?"

"A little birdie showed me," he responded. As if on cue, a small sparrow landed on his shoulder. Luka laughed, getting the joke. Daniel's semblance allowed him to communicate with animals to an extent.

"Can I assume that the same birdie knows where the temple is at?" She asked sarcastically. Daniel responded by reaching up to the sparrow and grabbing it gently. The sparrow knew he didn't mean it any harm, so it didn't resist. Daniel brought the sparrow up towards his mouth and whispered to it. After that, he let the sparrow go and it started flying off in a direction as if it had a purpose.

"That's a 'yes' I believe," he told Luka. She giggled and the both of them proceeded to follow the sparrow. This was easier said than done, as the sparrow was moving quicker than they thought. It would occasionally stop and wait for them, but Luka and Daniel both felt that there was an easier way to do this. And that's when Daniel spotted two large stags…

* * *

Yuri was sprinting his way through the forest, positive that he was heading the right way. However, he wasn't just sprinting to make it to the objective. Not long after landing, Yuri had stumbled upon a large nest of Creeps. Yuri knew he wouldn't stand much of a chance fighting them in their nest, so he took off westward. A pack of fifteen Creeps were now chasing him and showed no signs of letting him go.

After a while however, Yuri took in his surroundings and saw that he was in a more open area now. This would give him more of an edge. So he stopped, skidding as he did so, and drew his weapons. His sawed-off lever-action shotgun Mishka, and his flame mace Ogon' Molot.

"All right you ugly freaks, COME GET SOME!" He shouted as he took aim at the charging Grimm. Taking a few snap shots, most of the incendiary buckshot hit two of the Creeps, setting them ablaze. These two veered off from their charging pack in a panic, trying to put themselves out. As this happened, the pack had closed in on Yuri and the leading two creeps pounced at him. Yuri action rolled out of their path as they landed, one of them within reach of him. Taking this opportunity, Yuri swung his weapon down on the Creep's head, killing it.

At the same moment though, with his left hand, he holstered Mishka and removed one of his grenades from his bandolier. Pulling the pin with his thumb, he threw the grenade at the other Creep that had pounced at him. It hit the monster dead on its back and burst into flame on impact. Like the other two Creeps that Yuri had set on fire, it began to panic and run around in an attempt to put itself out.

Yuri smirked underneath his bandana as he jumped back in time to avoid another Creep slash at him. Yuri quickly looked for the other two he set on fire and saw their corpses, still burning, in the distance. That was four down.

Yuri still had use for the flames that were currently devouring the lifeless Grimm though. Raising his now free left hand in their direction, and then directing it towards the Creep that had just slashed at him, the flames left the others' corpses and flew to Yuri's target, catching it on fire. This was Yuri's semblance. Like the others, the Creep panicked and ran off. Five down.

Two other Creeps jumped at him, but Yuri drew Mishka in his left hand again and blew the midsection of one of them away. The other was about to make contact with Yuri, when at the perfect moment he swung Ogon' Molot at its head, crushing it and swatting the beast out of the air. Seven down.

Unfortunately though, Yuri failed to notice one of the last eight Creeps charging at him from behind. Ramming him hard with its head, it knocked Yuri to the ground, causing him to drop Ogon' Molot. Quickly turning on his back, he attempted to shoot the creep that had just assaulted him, only for a click to sound when he pulled the trigger. His magazine was empty.

"Crap!" Yuri cursed under his breath. The same Creep that knocked him down then leapt at him, claws drawn and jaws open. Yuri held up his arm in an attempt to prevent the monster from chomping on his head. However, the Creep never made it to him.

About midway through its leap, something wrapped around the beast's neck. What looked like a semi-thick, metal cord. Almost instantly after that, the cord yanked the Creep off to the side. Yuri and the other seven Creeps followed where this cord pulled the other with their gazes.

There stood Lucius, his kasuri-gama, The Beast, at the ready. As the Creep he subdued and pulled towards him drew closer, Lucius shifted his stance. At the right moment, he swung the scythe part's blade at the Creep, cutting it in half as the two halves flew past him. His weapon's cord now free, Lucius recovered and stood battle ready, swinging his weapons maul part in a circular motion.

The remaining Creeps simultaneously roared and rushed Lucius, who stood his ground. When they were in range, two of them pounced, only for Lucius two cut one of their heads off with his weapon's scythe part, and wrap the cord around the other's arms. In the same motion, he swung the captured Creep at one of the others, knocking them both down and untangling his cord from them. Neither were dead, but they were momentarily pacified.

Another Creep slashed at Lucius, only for him to cut off its arm and then cut its throat open in the same motion. Another Creep tried to pounce Lucius only for his cord to wrap around its neck. Lucius pulled the cord in a way that would make the Creep choke, while another rushed him. Dodging the other monster's attack and cutting its stomach open, Lucius returned to the other one he still had captured in his cord. With one forceful pull, Lucius broke the Creep's neck, nearly decapitating it.

All that remained where the two he pacified earlier. Lucius turned to see that they were just now recovering. Lucius raised the scythe part of The Beast, pointing it at them. From the mouth of the decorative dragon on it spewed a torrent of flames. Enveloping the Grimm, the fire's crackle mixing with their howls of pain, Lucius continued to burn them until the howls ceased. When Lucius removed his finger from the trigger, only ashes were left in place of the Creeps.

All the monsters dead, Lucius turned to see Yuri, still sitting there and looking up at him wide-eyed. Lucius approached Yuri and stood over him. He extended his hand as an offering to help him up. Yuri's stunned expression changed to one of excitement and awe.

"Hey, thanks for the assist man!" Yuri told him as he accepted the offering. As Lucius pulled Yuri to his feet, the latter couldn't contain his excitement.

"Dude, that was SO badass! I thought I was done for, and then here you come in like a ninja," Yuri babbled on as he retrieved Ogon' Molot. Lucius stood there and watched him without emotion. After Yuri grabbed his fallen weapon, he walked back to Lucius.

"Seriously man, I owe you big! And now we're even partners! This is so freaking awes-" Lucius held up his hand, making Yuri cease his babbling. Yuri was confused of course, but Lucius spoke.

"I am happy you are unharmed and that I saved you. And judging by your semblance and my weapon's flamethrower feature, it seems as if we will make a good team. But know this: I will NOT put up with constant chattering and talks of whatever was 'badass' or not. Understood?" Lucius was blunt and kind of rude, but not really that harsh. Yuri should have been offended or annoyed, and while he was stunned at this, he was still star-struck.

"Uh, yeah, sure man. Whatever you say," he responded, smile returning back to his face.

"Good," Lucius responded before turning, "Come on. West is this way."

With that, the two of them began to walk. For a few seconds the two of them were quiet, until Yuri ended that.

"So, what's your name man? I'm Yuri Votolom." A few more seconds of silence followed.

"Lucius. Lucius Furon."

* * *

Kyle Corvin stalked through the Emerald Forest, feeling pretty confident that he was going the right way. And hey, if he wasn't, he would find out eventually.

However though, Kyle heard rustling in the foliage nearby. Stopping dead in his tracks, Kyle tried to better hear what could possibly be hunting him. He didn't need to though, as not long after he stopped, a Beowulf leaped from a large brush nearby. Kyle jumped back several feet as the monster slashed at the ground where he once stood. Landing from his jump, Kyle was about to extend his claws, Hunger and Slake, when he noticed several more Beowulves emerging from the brush as well. A pack of about ten it seemed.

Kyle felt nervousness creep over him. He felt like he could take them, but at the same time he felt that their numbers were too much for him to handle alone. For a moment he contemplated retreating… when his father's advice began to fill his ears.

 _"_ _Remember Kyle, this world will not take mercy on you. You must stand strong, and reward brutality with a swift and sure vengeance. Do not let your rage take over – you are the master, above any emotion. When in doubt, trust in your warrior's instincts, they will never lead you astray. Reach inside, channel your beast, then rip, rend, and tear."_

Kyle closed his eyes and stood tall. He took a few deep breaths as he began to channel his semblance. The same Beowulf that already attacked him noticed this and charged, thinking it had the drop on him. It couldn't have been more wrong. When the beast was about half its original distance away, Kyle extended his claws, opened his eyes, and snarled. His yellow irises were now glowing slightly. Right as the Beowulf was about to slash him, Kyle drove his right claws, Hunger into the monster's throat, and his left claws, Slake, into its gut. Using both his strength and the momentum of the Beowulf's charge, Kyle flung the beast overhead and brought its skull down on the forest floor, killing it.

Removing his claws from the dead Beowulf and turned to the others. Kyle let out a menacing growl as he charged the rest of the pack. Right after he began sprinting to them, the other Beowulves began to charge at him as well.

When he was a good distance away, Kyle leapt into the air and landed right on the first Beowulf's shoulders. While on top of it, Kyle drove both of his claws into its neck and pulled in opposite directions, ripping the Beowulf's head off. When that was done, Kyle leapt from the monster's shoulders and landed in the middle of the others. As the Beowulves tried to slash and claw at him, Kyle would always parry their attacks and deliver a brutal counterattack. He fought with the skill of a trained warrior, but with the ferocity of a rabid animal.

One Beowulf tried to grab Kyle's tail, but he responded to this by driving Hunger's claws into the top of the beast's head, pinning it to the ground. From there, Kyle fired a couple rounds from the wrist mounted marksman pistol built-into Slake. Both the rounds he fired hit one of the other Beowulf's right in its eye, blinding it. As the monster staggered, Kyle pulled Hunger from the other Beowulf's skull and rushed the injured one. He let loose a flurry of slashes on the blinded monster, to the point that its torso looked like paper after it was fed through a shredder.

As his third kill fell down dead, Kyle noticed another Beowulf circling him. Pointing Hunger at it, he fired his weapon's claws forward, hitting the Beowulf in the chest.

"Come here!" Kyle yelled as he pulled the monster to him, the chains attached to the claws retracting into his vambrace. The monster tried to resist, but it was pointless. When it was in range, Kyle stabbed Slake's claws right through its head, the two side claws puncturing each eye, and the middle one right in the center of its forehead.

Kyle noticed though, even in his frenzied state, that this was going a lot easier than he thought. He was expecting more of them to gang up on him. As he withdrew his claws from the dead Beowulf, he turned around just in time to block an attack from another one of them. Pushing his attacker back, Kyle took the opportunity to stab his claws into the beast's chest. As the Beowulf growled for the last time, Kyle kicked off from it and landed a few feet back. One of the other Beowulves then rushed him, but like with the first, Kyle stood his ground. This time however, when the monster was in range, he drove both his claws into its midsection. Using all his might, Kyle pulled in opposite directions, ripping the Beowulf in half.

Kyle prepared for the next Beowulf, only to realize, the others were dead. He saw three of them laying there among their other pack mates, a single arrow in each of their heads. Not know what was happening, but believing that all was well, Kyle began to calm down, quelling his semblance. That's also when he noticed something. That was only nine dead Beowulves. Where was the tenth?!

That's when Kyle heard a 'thk', followed by pained and dying growling behind him. He turned around to see the last Beowulf, standing over him as if it was about to attack. However, three of the other dead monsters, this one had an arrow logged in its head. With that, the monster fell to the ground.

Kyle looked around franticly, searching for whoever did that.

"Who's there?" He called out. He continued to search around until his gaze fell upon something hovering above a thick branch in one of the nearby trees. A pair of green eyes were looking right into his. Kyle blinked a few time to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Sure enough, the eyes were real.

After a few seconds of staring at each other, something happened that shocked Kyle a little bit. Another student 'faded' into view where the eyes were. It was a male student, clad in black garb that made him look like a ninja. In his hands was a bow, and slung around his back was a quiver of arrows. Why Kyle immediately noticed about this boy though were the two long, black jackal ears atop his head. This person was another Faunas.

The student jumped from his perch on the branch and landed not too far away from Kyle. After he did, he split his bow in two, the halves becoming twin khopesh swords. He then sheathed them, and stood stoically, eyeing Kyle. Despite feeling like a deer caught in headlights, Kyle was excited to meet another student, especially a fellow Faunas.

"Thanks for the assist," Kyle said. The other student said nothing. He merely nodded.

"You're one of the students from Vacuo, right?" Again, no response. Just a long nod.

"Can you talk?" Kyle asked. Again, nod but no words were spoken.

"Oooookaaay… Well, judging by what the Oz man said, we're partners now. Sound good?" Another nod.

"Cool. So, can you tell me your name at least?" Silence.

"Naasir," the student finally said quietly. His accent was rather thick. "Naasir al-Neith."

"Well Naasir," Kyle responded, extending his hand forward with a smile behind his muzzle, "the name's Kyle Corvin."

Naasir accepted the handshake and nodded as well.

"So, you wouldn't happen to know where to go from here, would you?" Kyle asked. Naasir said nothing, again. Instead, he turned around and signaled for Kyle to follow him, before taking of in a light sprint. Without any hesitation, Kyle followed suit.

* * *

All of the students by now had found their partners. All that was left was for them to find the temple.

* * *

 **Chapter 4 is here. Sorry this took so long. It's hard writing action scenes for RWBY. ^^"**

 **Reviews and constructive criticisms are always welcome.**

 **VERY special thanks to the following:**

 **The Reader of Fanficton**

 **Diyaru4500 on deviantART**

 **RHY7HMICW4RRIOR on deviantART**

 **TeamGRAE on deviantART**

 **lightning-in-my-hand on deviantART**

 **tanaloth on deviantART**


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